Pages

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The cast and crew of the "Good Wife" celebrate their 100th episode by giving back to New York area hit by Hurricane Sandy...

Forget the cake, the champagne and the red carpet: "The Good Wife" celebrated 100 episodes a little differently. The cast and crew assembled in the Far Rockaways, an area of New York hit hard by Hurricane Sandy one year ago, and helped rebuild homes affected by the storm.

"[W]e realized how we'd want to spend a celebration to say, 'Wow, 100 episodes' -- which is such a milestone in television -- that we could give back and say thank you rather than take," series star Julianna Margulies told reporters on Saturday. "I think it's important for us to give back. We have so much."

"The Good Wife" cast, crew and even the people higher up came together to raise more than $77,000 for the St. Bernard Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disaster-impacted communities recover. Reese May, the East Coast director of operations for St. Bernard Project, said it's important to not forget many people are still suffering a year later. "['The Good Wife'] did a lot of work here in the community after the storm and it's really amazing to have them down here, obviously committed to the long-term recovery a year later."

"We both kind of suffered through Hurricane Sandy, but nothing compared to what people went through here … It's so important to give back. It's really nice to be here to do our little bit," Archie Panjabi said during an interview with her co-star Matt Czuchry.

Margulies and Josh Charles both described themselves as "handy-ish," while Chris Noth said he was there for hard labor. The three actors were in awe of their co-star Zach Grenier.

"Zach, who plays David Lee, is really a first-class carpenter," Margulies said. "He's in there putting all of us to shame right now."

"I'm basically going to apprentice him," Noth said.

For creators Robert and Michelle King, it was especially nice to give back to celebrate their TV milestone. "We feel really grateful," Michelle said.

"We didn't think it'd go past 13. With 13, there wouldn't have been anything we were doing. We would've been at home watching TV," Robert said, and Michelle added, "Painting our own basement!"

"So many of the cast and crew, right down to the grips, put in money to support it. It makes you feel a little Frank Capra about everything," Robert said. "It's exciting that it is the 100th episode because truly we didn't think we'd go past 13."